MBA Back-to-School Shopping List

graduate student things to buy for school

Today is officially my LAST day of not being a student until May of 2018! How crazy is that?!? I am seriously so stoked to start school next week – I’ve been running all over town ever since I got back from Colorado, busily doing all of my MBA back-to-school shopping and generally getting in “the zone”.

You know – that I’m-gonna-rock-this-sh*t zone.

Slash the I-hope-I-make-friends zone. Some things never change.

And yet some things do. Getting my MBA back-to-school shopping list ready was a bit challenging this time around. Unlike elementary school (or even college!), when you’re in MBA, nobody gives you a list. You have no idea if you need graph paper (I’m assuming not, but we’ll see if I’m right). You have no clue if there are professors who don’t like you to use computers (like all of my engineering professors from undergrad… strangely including the Computer Science professors for some unknown reason…) or if there are professors who only like you to use computers. It’s confusing, y’all.

MBA back-to-school shopping

Computer Skin + iPhone Case: Caseapp, c/o – save 20% by using code “GLITTER20” on any purchase
Agenda: Day Designer (also love this striped one!) / Headphones: Beats / Notepad: Kate Spade

As a grad student, your #1 must-have item is a computer… so it might as well look cute. I love my marble Caseapp skin for my computer. I even got the matching iPhone case and iPad case. Because what’s better than a matching set?

Behind the computer, second on my list is definitely a killer planner. Juggling so many classes and assignments, it can be hard to stay on top of everything. Last year, one of my friends (who was in law school at the time) introduced me to the Day Designer. Now, I cannot imagine my life without it. I also recommend nabbing a pair of top-notch noise-cancelling headphones, like these Beats. They’re wireless and they come in a bunch of colors – perfect for holing up in the library and tuning out the ambient noise (and the undergrads).

Speaking of undergrads, in undergrad, I consistently made the mistake of purchasing all of my textbooks from the university. Every semester, my books would total over $1000. That’s ridiculous. This time, when I saw that my textbooks would cost nearly $1500, I went on Amazon to check their prices. Not only was it less expensive to purchase through Amazon, by renting the textbooks instead of purchasing them, I was able to get away with spending less than $150. How do ya like them apples?

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A big thank you to Caseapp for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.